[Simon Stern teaches law and English at the University of Toronto. He is a co-editor of The New Rambler Review and Critical Analysis of Law. With Robert Spoo, he is editor of the Law and Literature series published by OUP. His current research focuses on the history and theory of legal fictions, and the history of cross-examination.] No sooner has Gerry...
[Isobel Roele is a Reader in the Department of Law at Queen Mary University of London, and the author of Articulating Security: The United Nations and Its Infra-Law (CUP, 2022)] The Sentimental Life of International Law makes a radical proposal: that we think of ourselves as living our lives when we do international law. The book invites readers to imagine a world where the professional is...
[Zinaida Miller is Professor of Law & International Affairs at Northeastern University.] In his wide-ranging exploration, Gerry Simpson demonstrates the fundamental tensions experienced within international law and by international lawyers as they simultaneously embrace and distance themselves from the individuals, sites, histories, modes of violence, and narratives at the center of their work. To approach international law through the sentimental, Simpson suggests, allows him to understand it...
[Carl Landauer taught history at Yale, Stanford, and McGill Universities and international legal theory at UC Berkeley School of Law.] Gerry Simpson, in the final chapter of The Sentimental Life of International Law, urges international lawyers to follow the Voltairean advice, “Il faut cultiver notre jardin,” which Simpson means both figuratively and literally. Among the various garden images that Simpson marshals for the garden chapter...
[Immi Tallgren is docent of international law at the University of Helsinki, researching ICL, the history of international law and feminism. Her latest publication is Portraits of Women in International Law: New Names and Forgotten Faces (OUP 2023). ] I was thrilled to be invited to this symposium on Gerry Simpson’s The Sentimental Life of International Law (2022). My thrill soon...
I am delighted to announce that this week Opinio Juris will be hosting a symposium on Gerry Simpson's wonderful new book "The Sentimental Life of International Law." Here is Oxford University Press's description: The Sentimental Life of International Law is about our age-old longing for a decent international society and the ways of seeing, being, and speaking that might help us achieve...
[Keshav Somani is as an Associate with the Dispute Resolution team of S&R Associates, New Delhi] Introduction The International Court of Justice on July 13, 2023, delivered its judgment in the case concerning Question of the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf between Nicaragua and Colombia beyond 200 Nautical Miles from the Nicaraguan Coast (Nicaragua v. Colombia). The Court concluded by thirteen votes...
[Stephen Lamony is an international lawyer] This essay benefited from comments by the Coordinator of the African States Parties to the ICC in New York, Mr Marvin Ikondere. Introduction In July 2010, International Criminal Court (ICC) President Judge Sang-Hyun Song and African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Jean Ping met and agreed to establish a Liaison Office to promote dialogue, information exchange, and mutual...
[Alonso Gurmendi Dunkelberg is a Departmental Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Oxford, in association with Somerville College, as well as Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.] Doing Justice to History is an amazing book and a fascinating read, particularly for those of us who, like me, enjoy studying the connections between international law and history. Barrie Sander has...
[Dr. Cheah W.L. is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore.] In his excellent and compelling monograph, Barrie Sander argues that the historical narratives captured in international criminal judgments amount to “forms of legitimation” by “recognizing and foregrounding particular aspects and perspectives of mass atrocity situations” while “marginalising and excluding others from view”. His book provides a detailed account of how international criminal...
[Kirsten J. Fisher is Associate Professor of Political Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.] Barrie Sander’s Doing Justice to History: Confronting the Past in International Criminal Courts is a significant piece of work on the way history is constructed through contestation in courtrooms and the judgements rendered from those proceedings. While there is much to say about this work, I will focus my thoughts on...
[Mariana Gkliati is an Assistant Professor at Tilburg University. Danai Angeli is an Assistant Professor at Biklent University. Elizabeth Mavropoulou is a Lecturer at the University of Westminster. Niovi Vavoula is an Associate Professor at the Queen Mary University of London.] This blogpost was released on 11 July as an open letter to Greek and EU authorities, undersigned by 350 academics...